Adrenaline
by emrys-knight
Summary: Conrad is just back from overseas and he's staying stateside for the unforeseeable future. He is an adrenaline junkie.


"Conrad, come down from there! What the Hell are you doing?!" Nic dropped her bag, running up to be below the place where the soldier stood on the one story roof. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched the man rock back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"I'm just gonna jump off real quick then I'll come in."

She stepped forward. "No, you're going to break your legs then we'll end up at the hospital."

"I'll just do a safety roll, take the momentum off."

"Conrad, no."

"Nic-"

"I don't care if Corbin Reinhardt did it. He's a professional, Conrad, you're not!"

"I'm just-"

"Are you a world star athlete?!" Nic waited for an answer. "Are you?! No? Then don't you dare jump from that roof!"

"I can do it, Nic!" Conrad leapt from the shingled surface, outstretching his arms, ready to bring himself into a safety roll. Nic screamed as he landed, not ready for him to stand upright, perfectly fine. "See, I did it!"

Not another word came out of her mouth before she angrily grabbed her bag off of the grass and stormed into the house he'd just jumped off of. She threw the bag onto the couch, making her way to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Conrad stood in awe of what he had just done, though keeping in mind how mad Nic seemed to be.

:::::::

"I'm just gonna do a kong off of the dock then land in the water," Conrad did the same rock he'd previously done. Back ball of his feet to front. Back to front. He readied himself to run before Nic came up behind him, beautiful in her bikini as always.

"No! No kongs, precisions or kong gainers. Whatever the Hell any of those mean. They all sound dangerous, like something that'll get you hurt or even killed."

"Not if I do it right," Conrad stretched out his neck, moving his head side to side before mapping out his route on the dock for his soon-to-be-attempted trick. "Don't worry, Nic, I've done kongs in the gym a million times, before."

"Yeah, over a foam pit. Not water you could drown in if you hit your head and knocked yourself out or hurt your arm. You can breathe in a foam pit. Not water."

"It'll be fine." He broke into a dead sprint towards the railing of the dock, bringing his hands up and ready. Once he was a few feet from the railing, he jumped, bringing his knees up to his chest and his hands out to be on top of the rail. His shins hit the corner, causing him to flip over the rail, hitting his head on the support beams at the bottom. He fell into the cool lake water below, unconscious.

"Conrad!" Nic ran down the long dock, screaming for help. It was taking far too long. He was definitely dead by now! No way he survived that! She kept her speed, though, running for the lifeguard tower. Much to her relief, the guard was already swimming out towards the soldier at a satisfyingly quick pace.

The guard brought him up onto the floating device, happy he was still breathing. He swam as hard as he could, as fast as he could to bring Conrad in.

When they got to shore, he pulled the sexyman onto the grassy sand, turning him on his back to wait for the paramedics to arrive. His head was bleeding generously, scaring the guard before Nic came up to the two with her bag, bandages on hand. She quickly addressed the wound, grumbling under her breath at how stupid her adrenaline junkie boyfriend was. He couldn't have just talked to someone. No, he couldn't fix this problem he had. He decided all on his own that it'd be best to give in to his addiction, to feed his desire more and more with stupid stunts like this.

She knew he wouldn't be the same once he got home but she figured it'd be traumatic memories he was telling her about or maybe even repressing them and she'd get frustrated but this? This was a whole different ballpark than she expected. These stunts he was attempting to get a fix of adrenaline… It was so much more than she thought it'd be.

:::::::

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Nic screamed. Medical personnel and patients outside of his room flinched at the outburst before ignoring it, pretending it didn't happen for the sake of the famous and loved couple.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it."

"Well now you know. I told you you're not-"

"Not Corbin Reinhardt, I get it. What does it matter anyway?"

"I can't do this anymore, Conrad." Tears fell from her face. She grabbed her bag from her chair. "Don't get up, by the way. You chipped your bone when you hit it on the dock. You know what they did."

"Nic…"

"Please don't make this harder than it needs to be. Please." She pulled her bag close to her chest, subconsciously protecting her heart.

"Please, I-"

"I'll have all of my stuff moved out by the time you get home. I'll come check on you during my shift, tomorrow, but that's it. We-w-we can still be friends, though."

"You know I don't want… You know I want more than that, Nic."

"I know. And I do, too, but I can't do this. You need to get things figured out before I can commit to this relationship like I want to."

"I-I und… I understand…" He held his tears at bay, painfully wishing he didn't have to. How was he supposed to do anything without her? She was his whole world and it felt like it was all crumbling in his hands, a spider turning into dust in his arms. Fine. He'd just have to take a job with Chastain to be near her more. To make her see how much he needed her.

Though, he had no idea how well he'd thrive in the environment without her help. Without her emotional support like he'd had before. He had no idea what was going to happen. A killer surgeon that wanted to play God. A fantastic Nigerian surgeon that would become one of his closest friends and allies in the fight against this surgeon.. A student he'd take under his wing and low-key care for a lot. An old mentor who would turn out to be just as much of a killer as his superior and soon boss. His abusive father being his boss and so much more. He had absolutely no idea.


End file.
